Theodore eishleigh



T. FISHLEIGH.

PLAYER PIANO.-

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8. I918.

Patented Oct. 21,1919.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co, WASHINGTON, n. c.

w/fwa/ef 05/ 4 17m UNITED sT 'r s PA ENT ormou.

'rHEoDoRE FISHL IG cF OSHAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA.

PLAYER-PIANO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Application filed November 8, 1918. Serial No. 261,641.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE FIsHLEIGH, of the town of Oshawa, in thecounty of Ontario, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, have inventedcertain new and useful 1mprovements in Player-Pianos, of which thefollowing is the specification.

My invention relates to improvements in player-pianos and the object ofthe invention is to provide adjustable means for changing the toneproduced by the player piano to any desired pitch and it consists of thefollowing arrangement and construction of parts as hereinafter moreparticularly explained.

Figure 1, is a front elevation of my device.

Fig. 2, is a sectional view through the adjustable portion of thecontrol.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the various figures.

1 indicates the base of the mechanism provided with side standard boards1 and 1 between which are mounted in the usual manner the'music roll 2and take-up roll 3. 4 indicates the tracker bar provided with the usualnote orifices 4*. At each end of the note orifices 4 are located aseries of small orifices, the orifices 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 beinglocated at one end of the series of note orifices and the orifices 12,13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 at the other end of the note orifices. Thetracker bar is slidably supported so as to move longitudinally by thepins 4 and 4 extending from one end of the tracker bar through a plate 4secured to the standard board 1 and at the other'end by a pin 4 and rod4 extending through the plate 4 secured to the standard board 1".

19 indicates a block supported upon the base board 1 and provided withtwo series of orifices, one series being designated by the numerals 20,21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 and the other series by the numerals 27, 28,29, 30, 31 and 32. The orifices 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 areconnected by tubes 20 21 22 23*, 24 25 and 26 to the orifices 5, 6, 7,8, 9, 10 and 11 of the tracker bar. The orifices 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and32 are connected by tubes 27*, 28*, 29*, 30", 31*, 32 and 33 to theorifices 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the tracker bar.

34 and 35 indicate guide bars secured to together by a link bar 43.

The slide bar 36 is provided with two orifices 37 and 38. 39 and 40indicate standard boards carrying pne'umatics 41 and 42, thepneumatic-41 being provided with a tongue 41 and the pneumatic 42 with atongue 42*. The tongues 41 and 42 are connected The standard boards 39and 40 are spaced apart and serve to support between the pneumatics 41and 42 a valve chamber 44. 45 and 46 indicate pouch chambers providedwith pouches 47 and 48. 49 indicates a vacuum chamber located above thepouch chambers, in the top board of which are formed vertical orifices50 and 51 from which extend horizontal orifices 52 and 53 leading to theinterior of the pneumatics 42 and 41. 54 and 55 indicate valve stemsprovided with upper heads 56 and 57 and lower heads 58 and 59 from whichextend stem extensions 60 and 61 carrying valve buttons 62 and 63 whichco-act with the pouches 47 and 48. 45 and 46 indicate orifices leadinginto the pouch chambers 45 and 46. 6O and 61 indicate tubes connectingthe orifices 45 and 46 to the orifices 37 and 38. The opposite end ofthe rod 4 is pivotally connected to the movable portion of the pneumatic41. 62 indicates a plate provided with a series of recesses 63, 64, 65,66, 67, 68 and 69. 70 indicates a rod pivotally connected at one end tothe slide bar 36 and provided at its opposite end with a button 71, itsupper portion being formed into a knob 72 and its lower portion into aprojection 73 adapted to fit into one of the recesses 63, 64, 65, 66,67, 68 or 69. p

It will be noticed that the orifices in the tracker bar at each end ofthe note orifices and each side of the orifices of the block 19 and therecesses in the plate 62 all correspond in number, seven being thenumber which I referably use.

aving described the principal parts involved in my invention I willbriefly describe the operation of the same.

It will be noticed in Fig. 1 that the strip forming the music roll andpassing from the roll 2 to the take-uproll 3 is indicated by dottedlines 74 and 75 forming the edges of the strip. These edges passcentrally normally over the center of the central orifice of each serieslocated at each end of the note orifices of the tracker bar. It will,therefore, be seen that an equal amount of air passes through theorifices 15 and Patented Oct. 21, 1919. a

18 and through the tubes 3O and 23 to the orifices 30 and :23, the airpassing from thence through the orifices 37 and 38 and through the tubesand 61 into the pouch chambers 45 and 46.

WVhen it is desired to change the tone the operator grasps the knob 72and lifts the projection 73 out of the recess 66 and passes it into therecess 67 if he desires to raise the tone and into the recess if hedesires to lower the tone. WVe will, however, take as an example theoperation when the projection is placed in the recess 67. When this isdone the slide bar 36 is moved carrying the orifice 37 and the orifice38 into alinement with the orifice 24 and orifice 29. WVhen this is doneit will be seen that the orifice 9 with which the orifice 2 is connectedwill be an uncovered orifice Whereas the orifice let connected to theorifice 29 will be covered by the music strip. It will thus be seen thatno air can pass through such orifice 14L to the pouch chamber 46 andthat, therefore, the vacuum will then operate to raise the valve stem 54carrying the head 57 of the valve against the lower end of the orifice50 thereby cutting of? the vacuum from the pneumatic 42 and allowing theair to enter beneath the raised valve head 56 into the pneumatic. Thevacuum tension still remains upon the pneumatic L1 which is therebycollapsed exerting a pull on the rod 4L7 so as to draw the tracker barover one space until the orifices Li and 9 are partially covered, thatis, equal to the width of one note orifice so that the whole series ofnote orifices are carried over whereby the perforations of the musicstrip will co-act with a note orifice of a higher tone than before thisoperation took place. This operation may be continued throughout thewhole series of recesses 66, 6?, 68 and 69 raising the tone to themaximum pitch.- lVhen the projection 73 is moved in the oppositedirection to engage with the recesses 65, 6a. and 63 the tone is loweredand the tracker bar carried in the opposite direction to that previouslydescribed.

From this description it will be seen that I have devised a very simpledevice whereby the tone produced by a player piano may be raised to anydesired pitch by the operator either before or during the playing of apiece.

WVhat I claim as my invention is 1. In a player piano, the combinationwith the tracking device comprising a tracker bar having a series ofguide holes at each end of the tracker bar and the operating valves andtubular connections between the guide holes and valves, of manuallyoperated means interposed in such tubular connections and between theguide holes and valves for successively rendering a guide hole at eachend of the tracker bar operative in pairs.

2. In a player piano, the combination with the longitudinally movabletracker bar, of a series of orifices located at each end of the trackerbar so that each edge oi? the music strip partially covers the centralorifice of each series, pneumatically operated means for moving thetracker bar, a pair of pneumatic valves operating such pneumatic means,and means for connecting the valves successively to any one of theorifices at each end of the tracker bar.

3.111 a player piano, a longitudinally movable tracker bar having aseries of orifices located at each end of the tracker bar, a blockhaving two corresponding series of orifices, the orifices of the blockbeing connected to corresponding orifices of the tracker bar, a movableslide bar co-acting with the block having one orifice co-acting witheach series of orifices of the block, a pair of pneumatic valves, an airduct connecting each orifice of the slide bar with one of the valves, apair oi? pneumatic: and a link connection between the pneumatics andtracker bar.

THEODORE l lSllLlfll (ll lVitnesses:

H. B. SULL, STANLEY \VoRonN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

